


Falling: To Let Yourself Fall

by samworth



Series: Falling [10]
Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Comfort_Fest_2018, Friendship, Gen, Hostage Situation, hostage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 00:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20555363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samworth/pseuds/samworth
Summary: Charlie couldn't take his eyes off the gun leveled at him. For the first time, he understood just how terrifying his brother could be. As Charlie tried to moisten his lips, the Glock in Don's hand never wavered. - Last part of the Falling series. Whole team. Season 4.





	Falling: To Let Yourself Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This is the conclusion of the Falling Series.
> 
> Thank you for all your kudos and support for the series. I appreciate it!

Charlie couldn't take his eyes off the gun leveled at him. For the first time, he understood just how terrifying his brother could be. He tried to moisten his lips but his mouth was dry-as-dust. The Glock in Don's hand never wavered.

"Let him go!"

Even Don's voice sounded different, or maybe it was the rushing in his ears, but his brother sounded cold and harsh.

"Don't make this any worse!"

Now Megan joined in. She at least held her gun only loosely aimed at him. Charlie knew intellectually that Don was aiming at the man behind him - the one with an arm around his neck - but he could only see Don and the barrel of his gun. Charlie breathed in, smelling the dust of the renovation work that had been done around him.

"Worse? This can't get worse! I'm going to prison!" The man shouted in his ear.

Charlie jerked at the noise. He could hear and feel the man breathing, hard and fast. The calculations ran through his head without a conscious thought. He estimated the size of the man behind him based on his hold, his stance and movement. Armed with these facts, Charlie calculated the necessary trajectory for an effective shot preventing all reflexive motions. But Don wasn't in the right position. Charlie froze. While he couldn't see what the man held against his throat, it felt dangerous.

"It could get worse. You could die!" Megan reasoned with the hostage taker. Charlie didn't know the man, had never even seen him. Don's shout had been his only warning.

Slowly, Charlie forced his eyes to travel upwards, beyond the unwavering Glock. He met Don's gaze - and didn't recognize him. It was a look he had never seen on his brother's face, and he had seen him in a lot of different situations.

"Back up!" The man ordered. "Or I'll kill him."

His brother flinched slightly. Surprisingly, the words didn't bother Charlie much - he kept his eyes forward, glued to his brother. Rationally, he knew that he should be concerned. If something went wrong, it would be his life in danger. But in front of him, Don stood firmly like a rock in stormy sea.

"Listen, just listen, man." David appeared behind Megan, his voice soothing and calm compared to Megan and Don's harsh orders. "We can back up, but you need to let him go first."

The man renewed his tight grip around his neck and Charlie tensed up further. Don's mouth twitched and his finger started to move as if he wanted to put it into the trigger guard, preparing to shoot. Charlie wanted to swallow, but between his dry mouth and the arm around his neck he couldn't find the moisture for it.

"No, you need to back off. I want a way out!"

The FBI agents didn't move as they blocked the only way out of the room. Agitated, the man tried to shoo them, his weapon of choice clutched in his hand. Now Charlie could see the simple screwdriver in his hand. The metal returned to his neck but Charlie felt better. The odds were finally looking up. Don wouldn't need a kill-shot to resolve the situation. He had a lot of options like - Charlie blinked. He couldn't think of a single option. This wasn't his area of expertise. His mind focused solely on his brother and his unreadable look.

"We are not here for you," David said, his face a mask. "We have no idea who you are and what you're wanted for." If David was around, Colby should also be near. But in Charlie's limited view, he could not detect the blond agent. Maybe he waited for Liz who was on her way. "You showed your hand for nothing. Let him go and we will back off."

The man shifted again. Charlie didn't like the changes that piece of information brought to his never ending calculations. If the agents didn't know who had his arm around his neck and pressed a screwdriver against his skin, then they also didn't know what he was capable of or how to handle him. Charlie could feel his pulse beating against the constriction and his pulse quickened further. For a moment Charlie wondered if his heart could burst as it felt like that, but then he scraped the thought.

"Let him go," Megan repeated the command. "And we can resolve this peacefully."

"I'm not going to prison," the man behind him repeated, his voice low and harsh in Charlie's ears. "I'm not going back in!"

Megan scowled at the news. If the man had been already in prison, it would be harder to find a peaceful solution. Even David frowned, projecting his worry about this information. But not his brother. Don's expression didn't change and his stance didn't falter.

"Then tell us your name and maybe we can work something out," David tried again. He refused to give up.

"No, you need to back off," the man repeated. Again, he waved his screwdriver threateningly in front of him, leaving Charlie precious moments to breathe as deeply as he wanted before the man pressed more firmly the cool metal tip against his skin. "Or I'll kill him. I'll do it!"

For a moment, Charlie closed his eyes. He could feel his skin breaking and started to shake in earnest. He needed to calm down, he needed to focus. Charlie snapped his eyes open. In front of him, immovable and calm, Don remained firm and strong. So Charlie did what he had been practicing his whole life – trying to mimic Don. Slowly, he pushed the panic down.

A few minutes ago, he had happily run his numbers, and they had matched perfectly, exactly as he had claimed. Then suddenly, out-of-the-blue, an arm had grabbed him by the neck, his brother shouting. The next thing he had seen was his brother aiming his gun at him.

Suddenly, Don shifted. It was almost invisible and if Charlie hadn't been staring at him, he would have missed it. It should have been impossible but Charlie's heart beat even 's Glock move slightly up and then down again. Charlie blinked the sweat out of his eyes. He wasn't sure if he had even seen something.

"Seriously, just calm down, and we can talk about everything. But first you have to let your hostage go." David wasn't giving up, trying to talk the man behind him into surrendering. Belatedly, Charlie realized that David had referred to him as the hostage.

"No. You need to back off. And then I -" the man's breath felt hot against his ear and cheek, and it sounded unnatural loud. He gasped for breath as if he had run the whole day. "Back off!" he repeated in place of a more precise idea what he wanted to have.

Finally, Don had enough. "You have three seconds to let him go or I shoot."

Megan's breathed in deeply. Charlie heard it over the rushing of his blood. She didn't question Don's decision to escalate the negotiation so fast, but she also didn't seem happy about it. Then her gaze shifted and with narrowed eyes she started to move, making room for something.

"You can't-"

"One." Don counted. The gun moved again slightly. This time Charlie was sure about what he had seen. Maybe Don was tiring and it was involuntary movement as he tried to keep the gun up? But a quick estimation resulted in small odds that they had been long enough engaged in this standoff to assume muscle tiredness as a factor.

"Two." Don's focus was solely on him. He had wanted to tell him something, and Charlie hadn't understood it. He gulped down some air. Don had wanted something from him, and he had no clue what it could be. He had insufficient clues. Just a moving gun wasn't enough, Don wouldn't let his gun fall -

Like a flash, he suddenly understood. He was supposed to let himself fall - falling and trusting that his brother would be there.

"You can't. I'm going to kill him. You ..."

"Last chance." Don tilted his head, smiled and raised his gun higher. The man behind him shifted and his arms loosened.

"Three."

Charlie took a deep breath, closed his eyes and allowed his weak knees to give away and went limp. He heard the sharp intake of breath from behind him as the man lost his hold on him. He prepared himself to hit the ground and waited for the whirring sound of a bullet above his head hoping that his calculations were right, and he would fall fast enough to get out of the way.

Throwing out his hands reflexively to catch himself before he crashed completely, he heard the sound of a body hitting the ground and waited for the pain but it never came. The expected shot also never echoed in the empty room. Instead, his hands found a new anchor.

"I've got you buddy. I've got you."

Suddenly, Charlie was pulled upwards and forward. He followed his brother willingly on wobbly legs.

"I've got you." Don pulled him in his arms. "I've got you." It was as much a reassurance for Charlie as it was for Don.

Without waiting for Charlie to catch his breath, Don pulled him out of the room, down the stairs as the elevator was being repaired and then out of the building.

Finally, Charlie was able to stop his brother. "Wait." He freed himself and gulped down some air. His hands were shaking badly, and he leaned back against the nearest immobile object, in this case Don's car. Now, he was the one who was breathing as if he had run a marathon.

"You okay?" Don leaned down, trying to catch Charlie's eyes and inspect his neck. "Let me see," he demanded.

Charlie was too wired, too much fear and adrenaline had flooded his blood to argue with Don. He showed his neck. "What happened?" he asked, still out of breath but allowing Don to check him over.

"A doctor is going to take a look at you!" Don finally decided, ignoring Charlie's question.

* * *

Charlie stared at the old apartment house in front of him. Several windows were being replaced. The empty holes stared at him like dead eyes.

It all had started as a normal case. While renovations of the apartment house were done, the construction crew had found money hidden behind some wall panels. After comparing the serial numbers, the case had landed on Don's desk as they had led back to a bank robbery a few years ago.

But the tenant of the apartment was an old gentleman who limped badly and neither possessed the health nor the need to rob a bank as he lived comfortable with the money he had received in a settlement. Don had his team running down every lead from helpful neighbors to children and other family members. But Mr. Brown and all of his extended family had no connection to the robbery. Not even Charlie's extensive social networking analysis had resulted in any connection between the money, the bank and the family.

In the end, it had been their father who had clued them in. One look at the plans of the house, and he complained about the sloppy work. The bad planning would not only make the rooms badly soundproofed and chilling but also made every pipe burst a nightmare as the used material could be hollowed out by water, creating unexpected pockets and shafts.

Don had only needed half an hour to confirm that five months ago a flooding had occurred, the very cause for the renovations. Armed with that knowledge, they had met with Megan, Colby and David at the renovation site while Amita and Larry were on their way. Together they had wanted to calculate and check out the apartment the money had originally been hidden, either behind a wall or beneath the floor. Liz had been in the office connected by phone and running down every piece of information about the burst pipe and other tenants.

They had covered a lot of rooms, taking measurements while Charlie adjusted his math.

Then suddenly Charlie had been a hostage and still didn't know why or by whom. Looking away from the building, he found his brother watching him intently. Startled by the sound of ripping open the velcro of a blood pressure cuff, Charlie jerked and returned his focus to his surroundings. Sitting on the back step of an ambulance, he let himself be checked over without protest. Despite that his shaking had calmed down to only a slight tremor, Charlie still felt shaky and faint.

"Well?" Don demanded and glared at the female paramedic who calmly put away her stethoscope.

"He's fine," the woman said completely unaffected by Don's glare. Maybe Charlie should ask her to give courses how to do this. Smiling to himself, Charlie lowered his head to hid it. A smile was inappropriate in his situation. It wasn't so long ago that he would have fallen to pieces in a situation like this. Maybe he should be worried about his ability to adapt to death and violence.

"He doesn't even need a band-aid. The damage to his skin is only superficial and I can't detect any swelling." She shrugged and zipped up her bag, looking up to Don. "He is fine. But if you want, you can have him checked out by a physician."

Before Don could say anything, Charlie rose. "Thank you, I will." He offered her his hand.

The surprised look on Don's face was almost worth the effort his words had costed him. But it wasn't Don he had been thinking about but their father. He signed the necessary documents.

* * *

"And?" Charlie followed Don to his car.

"I'd need to talk to Megan and Liz. They should know something by now." He keyed the remote and the car blinked dutifully. "Are you sure that -"

"I'm fine. I can wait. But I really want to know what this all was about before going home."

Don made a face, projecting his unhappiness but in the end he nodded.

Watching Don weaving through the crowd of LEOs and construction workers, Charlie opened the car door before it could lock again. He didn't see Colby until he carefully stepped into his view.

"Don't startle," Colby said and grinned. "I don't think Don could take another such scare." He eyed the mathematician. "I'm really glad that you're okay."

Charlie twitched, but he could keep his shock out of his face. Taking a deep breath, Charlie focused to Colby. This was his opportunity to learn a few facts. He needed facts. Facts he could turn to and not emotions he couldn't run from. "What happened?"

With a deep frown on his forehead, Colby glanced to the leaving ambulance.

"I remember all of it," Charlie said fast before Colby could question his health. One big brother was all he could take. "But I don't remember hearing a shot and the ambulance is already leaving. Didn't -"

"Oh," Colby said and leaned against the hood of the car. "There was no shooting. We could solve the situation without any blood shed."

"But how?"

"Superman here," David said as he came around the car and patted his partner's shoulder, "thought it would be a good idea to climb through a window to get behind you and Banks. As you let yourself fall down," David shuddered at the memory, "he tackled the guy without any problems. But Charlie," David paused and pressed his palms together in a praying gesture, "please, don't ever do this again without warning me. For I moment, I thought -" he broke off. Words were unnecessary where his expression showed it far better.

"But Don-"

"I know, I know," David said. "He could see Colby climbing in whereas I couldn't see him. But man," he clapped Charlie on the back, "I'm glad that you're okay." With that he left Charlie and Colby alone, strolling over to Don and Megan.

Automatically, Charlie glanced back to the building. "Did you really climb out of a window and outside of the building? Where did you get the safety equipment and how did you secure yourself this fast?"

David, still in earshot, snorted while Colby looked upwards. "See," he called across the street, "even Charlie knows that you should only climb out of a window properly secured." David grinned and pointed his index finger at Colby. Apparently, it wasn't the first time they had the argument.

"Time," Colby call back, "it's an important factor, you know?"

"You weren't secured?" Charlie jumped out of the car. He couldn't help himself but looking back to the building. He knew that he had been in the room they had found the money on the forth floor. The calculations of speed, height and impact were done before he could stop himself. Charlie stared at Colby, his face betraying his emotions.

"Don't look so horrified. I knew what I was doing. One - there were no windows. No need to push anything open or hurt myself on broken glass. Two," Colby counted aloud in his carefully measured voice meant to be calming, "I climbed out of the window of the adjourning room. It wasn't far. As long as you don't look down..."

"Do you know what would have happened if you had fallen down?"

Colby looked down, inspecting the tip of his shoe. The slight hunch of his shoulders confirmed his knowledge. But then he squared his shoulders and stared at Charlie. "Do you really think I would have let something happen to you, Math Whiz? It was the best and shortest way. I'd do it again."

Charlie gaped at him. "You could have fallen," he said as he finally found his voice again.

"But I didn't." He offered Charlie a serene smile. "You need to know when to let yourself fall and when to hang on." He shrugged. "You let yourself fall and I needed to hang on. Easy, isn't it?"

* * *

"Charlie!" Amita's shout brought Charlie out of his daydreaming. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the ghost of a touch against his neck. "Charlie!" Snapping his eyes open, he jumped out of Don's car. Amita was hurrying across the street. He opened his arms and embraced her.

Smelling her shampoo, Charlie closed his eyes and buried his head in her hair, running from the ghosts in his mind.

"Charlie?" Amita carefully pushed against his chest, bringing him out of his hiding place. Larry stood a step behind her. On his face, Charlie could see their shock.

"How did you know?" They had been on their way to crunch some numbers, after they had fallen behind as Larry had lost his phone and wouldn't leave without it.

Tears gathered in Amita's eyes. "As the radio said that part of the highway was closed down because of a nearby hostage situation, I just knew that -" she broke off.

"Hey, I'm fine." Charlie kissed Amita on top of her head. "Don and Colby and David and Megan, they all were here," he said trying to project a comfort he hadn't felt in the minutes he spent as a hostage. "I'm fine."

"I hope so as I don't want to lose the man I fell in love with," Amita said through her tears, offering him her best smile.

"Hey, Charlie," Megan came over. "Are you okay?"

"Please, stop asking me this," Charlie complained and punched the bridge of his nose. "I'm fine."

Megan raised her eyebrows at his expression and frustrated voice. "Maybe -"

"Maybe," Charlie said, "somebody can finally tell me something?" He tried to sound demanding but his face reveal his pleading. "I need to know what I did -"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Megan interrupted him. "And neither did Don, you may remind him from time to time."

"But-"

"Liz!" Megan called out and waved her over. "Liz was already on her way as she heard about our situation on the radio. She has the answers you seek."

While they waited, Larry offered Megan a tentative smile. "Is anyone hurt?"

The wind had loosened a strand of her hair, and Megan pushed it out of her face. "No, thanks to Colby and Charlie's bold and brave move, nobody was hurt."

"I am sure that all of you did your part," Larry said, but he had only eyes for Megan.

"Hey Charlie, are you okay?" Liz asked as she reached the group around Don's SUV

"Stop asking that," Amita and Charlie said in unison.

Megan smirked. "Charlie wants to know what happened and not hearing a question."

"All right," Liz said, smoothing out the wrinkles on her forehead, "then I'm just going to state that I'm glad that you're okay."

"Thanks. And?" Charlie patience for the day was draining fast.

Liz took a deep breath. "His name is Michael Banks and -"

Charlie frowned, thinking furiously.

"- and you probably don't know him. Neither did we by the way," Liz continued. "He is one of the construction workers, and he had heard us talking about banks, thinking that we were looking for him as he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a parole violation." She grimaced. "Then he panicked."

Amita gaped at Liz. "He just thought you were after him and you never even -"

Megan nodded.

"While you were talking about a credit institution, he assumed you meant him. Oh, what a mess." Larry put his hand against his forehead and sighed.

"He was working in the apartment the money had been found. Seeing you calculating, he had assumed you were a safety inspector, but then Don and David with their FBI vests came in and blocked the door." Liz shrugged.

Charlie could fill in the blanks, staring in the distance. Near the entrance to the house, he spotted Don. His signed another form and shook the hand of the SWAT officer before coming over.

"Is my car the only means of transportation around here, or what are you all doing here?"

"When did you call in the SWAT team?" Charlie asked. After being around crime scenes and active scenes long enough, he knew the different teams.

"Liz called them in as she was on the way over." He marched straight through the circle of people around Charlie and touched his shoulder. "We would have gotten you out."

It wasn't the words but the conviction behind them that soothed Charlie's troubled soul.

Suddenly, Charlie phone rang, breaking the moment. Fishing it out of his pocket, Charlie paled as he recognized the caller id. "Dad!"

"Well, we'll leave you to -" Megan said, turned and went away, pulling Liz with her. They fell back to safer grounds.

"I can't," Charlie looked up from the device in his hand, carefully held as if it was a bomb, to his brother. "What am I going to say? I-"

Taking a deep breath, Don grabbed the phone. "I guess this duty falls to me. But," he glared at Charlie, "only this time because ..." Don motioned to the house and Charlie's neck and meant a lot of things he would never put in words. He accepted the call. "Dad? No, everything is fine."

* * *

"I don't want you to fall ill, Charlie!" Alan held out Charlie's jacket. It was a chilling outside and his son refused to wear proper clothes.

"I have Amita," Charlie said and indicated with his chin to his girlfriend who was snuggled up to him. "And she's hot."

David and Colby laughed out loud while Megan and Larry hid their smile by putting their heads together. Alan had invited the whole team to celebrate the happy end of the events. Only Robin had to decline as she was in DC.

"He's fine," Don said from across the garden. Having put up his feet, he relaxed in the garden chair. "Even Doc Morrison agreed."

Alan scowled. None of his sons were really to blame for the disaster that had almost befallen his family, but Alan still felt the shock in his bones of the call. The little words 'almost' and 'in time' had stood between having two sons or losing both. If Charlie - no, Alan shook his head, he couldn't think about it. But he knew that Don would have blamed himself and then - Alan shook his head more firmly, trying to chase away the dark thoughts.

"Mr. Eppes," Colby started. "Charlie -"

"Alan," he corrected automatically. If even Don and Colby sided with Charlie, he really needed to let it go. "Fine." He dropped the jacket. "I'm just glad that -"

"We all were very fortune thanks to the strength of Agent Granger and -" Larry started.

"Liz' quick thinking, getting a SWAT team and having units coming in," Colby threw in. "If my plan had failed or I would have been unable to climb back in, backup would have been just around the corner."

"Megan's negotiating skills," Liz added. "In every other situation they would have worked. I did count on them as SWAT would need a few minutes."

"David's patience," Megan picked up the thread, looking at David and glancing to Don out of the corner of her eyes.

"Don's fast reaction and situational awareness," David said without missing a beat. "I hadn't seen anything going down as he suddenly drew his gun, preventing Banks from leaving the room. We wouldn't have been able to solve this peacefully if he had more space than the single room we could block off."

The sequence had worked so great that everybody looked to Don, expecting his addendum. Don took his time playing with his beer. "Well, I guess it all boils down that I was properly raised," he started, earning himself laughter and a disapproving scowl from his father. "And I have a good team," he continued grinning as if he wasn't aware what everybody expected. "But seriously," he looked to his brother, "none of it would have worked if you hadn't let yourself fall, if you hadn't understood my order, if you hadn't followed it." He raised his bottle. "Thanks for the trust, brother."

Charlie ducked his head, the unexpected words warming his heart. Amita snuggled deeper into his embrace. "I would do it again in a heartbeat."

"Aww," Colby grinned and hit playfully David's arm. "See that's how brotherly affection is done, not like your endless nattering about only climbing out of windows if properly secured."

David rolled his eyes. "It's called caring. Alan," David referred to Alan, "is it wise to climb out of a window of the forth floor without any safety line?"

Colby straightened. "Hey, that's unfair!"

Alan tipped his fingers against his chin. "Let me think about." Without any effort he had the attention of the people in his garden. If only he had learned that trick as his boys were little. How much shouting he could have spared his voice. "It's a matter of the reasoning used. If you do it because you don't care about safety or about yourself, then it's wrong. If it's because you do care but also care more about others, then I'd call it heroic."

Charlie started to applaud, and the others joined in, leaving Colby speechless.

"But Colby," Alan said and motioned for them to stop clapping, "if you do it again and get hurt - you have to answer me!"

"Hear, hear," Don said. "That sounded like a threat."

But Colby just smiled.

"So, now that Charlie proved that he could let himself fall out of trust, how about the rest of you?" Megan untangled herself from Larry. "I always thought the little test of trust to let yourself fall backwards into the arms of a friend, was a really good way to improve a relationship." She stood up. "Who trusts me to catch him?"

Larry raised his hand. Charlie and Amita followed as did Liz.

"Boys?"

"I haven't needed to test gravitation since I was in first grade," Don said. "I won't start now."

Colby eyed Megan. "You do know that the more muscle mass the more weight you have to catch." To prove his point, he tensed up his biceps.

"We're talking about unimportant effects here-" Charlie started. "Megan won't have a problem to catch -"

Megan raised her eyebrow.

"It's a stupid test that says nothing about trust," Don said. At Megan's glare, he added, "No matter what your research suggests. It doesn't improve any working relationship. Now, if we go to the shooting-range-"

"- where you have control -"

"It's not about control, it's about not feeling the need to -"

"Hey, I think it's a good idea -"

"It's a bad idea."

"You can do it without me!"

"It only works if we all -"

Alan leaned back in his chair, content to watch his sons and their friends arguing whether this exercise was a good or a bad idea, challenging each other to prove that they would do it.

If the time would come, all of them would be able to let themselves fall, and every single one of them would be there to the best of his or her ability to catch the other one.

He had no doubt about it.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
